‘Everything Everywhere’ director criticised for calling ‘Malcolm X’ a “crime film”

7 February, 2023

One half of the Daniels, the directors and writers behind Everything Everywhere All At Once, has been criticised for his comments regarding Malcolm X.

Daniel Scheinert, who directed the Oscar front-runner with Daniel Kwan, has faced some flack after he called the 1992 Spike Lee biopic a “crime film”. The Oscar-nominee seemingly upset some people when he gave a gushing review of the film during the Daniels’ appearance on The Criterion Collection’s Closet Picks.

Picking the film up to spotlight it, Scheinert said: “I have a problem with movies based on true stories. I feel like it’s scary – like bad journalism – that screenwriters can just nudge the facts around. But, every once in a while a movie breaks that for me and I’m like ‘never mind this one’s incredible’.

The Oscar-nominated directing duo, the Daniels. CREDIT: Alamy

“Love And Mercy is one, and Malcolm X is one. This is just such a riveting crime saga, like maybe my favourite crime movie. It just blew my mind when I saw it like a year ago. I’m a pretty big Spike Lee fan as a writer/director, and a very big Spike Lee fan as an actor. He just comes in so hot in this movie, and Do The Right Thing obviously.”

As suggested Closet Picks is a webseries, in which celebrities (actors, directors and such) are invited into a room full of DVDs and Blu Rays. The guest or guests are then allowed to pick out items to take home, explaining their choices on camera.

However, some movie fans were less than impressed with Scheinert’s comments on the film, prompting a backlash.

Some Twitter users reacted by mocking the director, with one writing: “Malcolm X as a crime saga. That’s quite a take. Lol [sic].”

Another critiqued him, tweeting: “Reminder that good directors of good movies can also, like so many artists, be bizarrely ignorant. I loved Everything Everywhere All At Once, but how do you even call Malcolm X a ‘crime movie’ lmao [sic].”

Another added: “EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE director Daniel Scheinert picks up Spike Lee’s MALCOLM X in his Criterion Closet video and refers to it as his “favorite crime movie.” Come on, man [sic].”

However, others pushed back against this explanation. One wrote: “The Daniel is a goober, but the first act of Malcolm X literally is a crime saga straight up, and much of the rest of the film retains elements of that. it also stops to be a musical for a couple minutes early on, cause Spike is a genius [sic].”

Another tweeted: “It’s fucking hilarious people are acting like one of the Daniels might be racist because they called Malcolm X a crime movie. Like it’s not but there are gangsters in it, yous all have way too much time on your hands lol [sic].”

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